Kinect Does Not Add to Development Costs on the Xbox 360

Kinect is the next big thing coming to the Xbox 360 home console from Microsoft, with the launch date set for November 4 in North America and later during the same month in Europe. We know that the device will come in a bundle initially, with the price set at 149.99 dollars for a bundle that includes a game designed to showcase the possibilities of the device. The price might prove to be a barrier for players who are interested in picking up the device but one Microsoft executive is suggesting that developers should not be afraid of creating experiences for Kinect.

Kudo Tsunoda, who is the general manager of the Microsoft Game Studios, told magazine Edge as part of an interview, that “Very little of the time, energy and cost that you spend on the title comes down to the controls. There's a direct translation of the user input into an on-screen action that you spend time tuning and crafting, but it's not particularly asset-based - you don't need a team of 50 artists building a high fidelity world.” He added, “So this is a small percentage of your development cost. Kinect is no more cost-prohibitive than developing on anything else.”

At the moment support for Kinect seems to be limited to family oriented titles coming from big companies. Rare is working for Microsoft to create Kinect Sports, a game collection that seems to be a requirement for all motion tracking solution that hit the market, Harmonix is working on Dance Central, a game that tracks a huge number of dance moves for each players, while Ubisoft is preparing Your Shape, a game that combines Kinect with a camera that scans the body to create a more in depth fitness game experience.

Some smaller developers have long said that the barriers to entry linked with bringing their games to the Xbox 360 are too high and might see Kinect as one more hurdle they need to get over to create a successful title.